1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording device.
2. Related Art
With an ink jet recording device, in order to maintain or restore excellent ejection characteristics, a maintenance process of an ink jet head (may be referred to below as recording head) is periodically performed.
As the maintenance process, there is, for example, removing of ink, dust, paper particles, or the like adhered in the vicinity of nozzles by wiping a nozzle surface of a recording head, or a wiping operation of performing a purge process to readjust a meniscus by destroying the meniscus of a nozzle.
In JP-A-2006-159730, a wiping member is disclosed which carries out a water repelling process in order to maintain stable wiping performance over a long time.
In JP-A-2007-160549, a mechanical structure is disclosed which, as a countermeasure to a deterioration in a water repelling property of a face (nozzle surface) in a nozzle vicinity of a recording head, glycerin with a water repelling property is applied to a wiping member that wipes only the face.
However, in the related art as above, there are the following problems. In JP-A-2006-159730, there is a case where, even if a water repelling process is carried out on the wiping member, the water repelling property deteriorates as a result of long-term use, ink is attached to the wiping member, and then thickens, hardens, and accumulates, and there is a concern that ink is drawn out of the nozzles during the wiping operation and a so-called missing nozzle is induced.
Further, in JP-A-2007-160549, it is necessary to separately provide a mechanical structure to apply glycerin with a water repelling property to the wiping member, and there are problems of cost, installation space, and efficiency of the wiping operation.